The present invention relates to a method and related device for updating firmware code stored in a non-volatile memory.
As consumer electronic products are developed with great diversity of functionality, the architecture shown in FIG. 1 has become very popular. As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic device 110 includes a non-volatile memory 112 for storing firmware code 112p, which is a program 112p used for controlling the functionality of the electronic device 110. The electronic device 110 further includes a microprocessor 114 for executing the program 112p read from the non-volatile memory 112. The non-volatile memory 112 mentioned above is usually a Flash Memory (Flash ROM). The program 112p is stored in the Flash Memory using a format of the firmware code 112p. 
As shown in FIG. 2, a process of updating the firmware code 112p stored in the non-volatile memory 112 using a ROM writer 120 is well known in the art. Firstly, put the memory 112 into a holder 122 of the ROM writer 120 to write the firmware code 112p into the memory 112, and secondly install the memory 112 on a circuit board 110b of the electronic device 110 shown in FIG. 1 so that the firmware for controlling the electronic device 110 is accessible by the microprocessor 14. For an end user, uninstalling or installing the memory 112 from or to the circuit board 110b is not easy since the memory 112 is usually soldered onto the circuit board 110b. In addition, the ROM writer 120 is not convenient for end users. Therefore, updating the firmware code 112p is very difficult for the end user.
Another process of updating the firmware code 112p stored in the memory 112 involves electrically connecting specific equipment 190 to the electronic device 110 to directly control voltage levels of each pin of the memory 112. Please refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,881 for related information. However, according to this related art technique, the electrical connection between the electronic device 110 and the specific equipment 190 should be constantly maintained while updating the firmware code 112p. Furthermore, a large number of pieces of specific equipment are required for updating the firmware code 112p if a large number of electronic devices need to be revised by updating the firmware code 112p. Therefore, this leads to a trade-off between the high cost of the large number of pieces of specific equipment and the efficiency of updating the firmware code 112p of the large number of electronic devices.